Halis Öztürk represented Ağrı for the Democrat Party from 1950 to 1960. Parliamentary records and later research connect his career to Sipki leadership, exile, the Ararat memory and imprisonment after the military coup.

Historical black-and-white photograph of a group of men standing outdoors in military clothing, fur caps and headwraps
Archival group photograph associated with the Ararat rebellion. The Commons record identifies Halis Öztürk, Ihsan Nuri and Ferzende, dates it to 1927–30 and credits T.C. Public domain in Turkey according to that record. The surviving scan is small. Archival photograph · credited T.C. · Wikimedia Commons · Public domain in Turkey per the file’s PD-Turkey notice. Existing archival scan reproduced without creative changes.

Ağrı deputy, with a disputed birth year

Halis Öztürk was a Sipki leader from Tutak and later a Democrat Party deputy. The parliamentary biography gives 1899–1977, while İsmail Kıran’s 2023 research abstract gives 1889. [1] [2] The sources give conflicting dates without explaining the discrepancy. It remains unresolved here.

Family standing and internal exile

Kıran identifies his father Abdülmecit Bey as a Hamidiye regiment commander. He places Öztürk’s exile to Kayseri in February 1926 and return to Tutak in 1928, while stating that the family had not joined the Sheikh Said movement. [2] This account distinguishes family standing and displacement from an assumption that every Kurdish notable participated in the same uprising.

How the Ararat association is remembered

In a parliamentary commission hearing on 20 August 2025, MAZLUMDER chair Kaya Kartal described Öztürk as a Sipki leader who had taken part in the Ağrı rebellions before becoming a deputy. He introduced this as a recollection drawn from Altan Tan. [3] The photograph’s Commons record also associates Öztürk with Ihsan Nuri and Ferzende. [5] These sources document later identification and remembrance; they do not establish a precise command rank, a complete negotiating delegation or the details of an alleged prison-transfer escape.

Ten years in parliament, with identifiable work

Kıran dates his first election to 14 May 1950 and records service in the ninth, tenth and eleventh terms, ending with the coup of 27 May 1960. [2] The parliamentary history supplies more concrete detail for 1957: 28,929 votes and membership of the Divanı Muhasebat Encümeni, the public-accounts committee. [1] His parliamentary role included committee work as well as the local authority attached to a notable family.

Yassıada, Kayseri and the end of his life

Kıran reports a ten-year sentence in the constitutional-violation case after detention and trial at Yassıada, followed by imprisonment in Kayseri. [2] A sentence length should not be turned into a claim that he served ten full years. The parliamentary biography records his death on 24 September 1977 and burial at Karakuyu Cemetery in Tutak. [1] It does not establish Kayseri as his place of death.

Memoirs and records answer different questions

Kıran says his research combines family and tribal interviews with fellow politicians’ memoirs. [2] The publisher’s record identifies a 2024 chapter, Anılarla Bir Milletvekili: Halis Öztürk, and lists memoirs and the published Yassıada decisions among its references. [4] Such a bibliography helps readers locate further evidence, but it is not itself a verbatim courtroom transcript. Famous witty replies and claims about the language of a particular defence require a traceable passage before being repeated as established speech.

Sources and further reading

  1. Zühtü Arslan, Türk Parlamento Tarihi: TBMM XI. Dönem (1957–1960), III, Biographies, TBMM, p. 93; Halis Öztürk entry.
  2. İsmail Kıran, Anılarla Bir Milletvekili: Halis Öztürk, Seventh International Mount Ararat Symposium abstract book, 2023, pp. 80–81; biography and research methods.
  3. TBMM, National Solidarity, Brotherhood and Democracy Commission, 20 August 2025, unreviewed transcript, pp. 40–42; Kaya Kartal’s retrospective account.
  4. Akademisyen publisher record for İsmail Kıran, Anılarla Bir Milletvekili: Halis Öztürk, 2024, pp. 325–338, DOI 10.37609/akya.3100.c10215; metadata and bibliography.
  5. Halis–Ihsan Nuri–Ferzende group photograph, Wikimedia Commons; identification, 1927–30 date range, T.C. credit and PD-Turkey notice; cites Rohat Alakom, 1998, p. 180.